Jack Storey: Teacher, family man, friend

This News by You was written by Ray Sargent.

When I read the obituary of Jack Storey in July, I spread the word to the Thunderbird retired faculty, and we all felt numbed by the news.

Jack was a husband, father, friend, teacher, and coach; and he excelled at all these roles. In fact, he was an institution at Thunderbird High School for many years. One teacher said that Jack taught him to coach and teach kids, and Jack didn't just talk the talk, he walked the walk often tutoring students who needed extra help on Saturdays.

He coached football most of the years he taught and mentored many teacher-coaches.

One coach commented that Jack gave him the solution to dealing with parents who argued that their child should start in place of the first stringer: Tell the parents if they could get the written permission from the parents of the first stringer to allow the complaining parents' son to play instead, then he would play their child. Needless to say, the novice coach never heard from the complaining parents again.

But Jack's legacy was certainly not limited to the playing fields. His former students remember him as a teacher who built adults and never cut them down.

Jack preferred to teach the younger students, freshman science, for the same reason he coached freshman football. These were the students who needed the most help in adapting to the high school regimen. Not only did he tutor students on the side, at one point, when a student's hearing aid battery quit, Jack took the battery out of his own hearing aid and gave it to the student. What a class act.

"He never lost his temper in the classroom," one former student recalled, "and demonstrated the same level of patience on the playing field."

Most of Jack's colleagues use words like "inspiration," "mentor," "compassionate," and "professional" to describe him. "He belonged to the Hall of Fame - as a teacher, coach, family man and friend."

One former teacher recalls the first time he heard Jack say, "Sally's honor." Jack was originally from Wyoming and commented that he knew Curt Gowdy. The teacher called him on this, and Jack replied, "Sally's honor."

We came to know that what Jack said was always true as long as he added Sally's honor, a tribute to his loving wife Sally.

Of course, we used this against Jack. He was a great storyteller and often exaggerated to make a tale more interesting; Jack also was not opposed to the occasional practical joke. All we had to ask was "Sally's honor?" And Jack was caught in a fib.

We all agree that Jack Storey was one of finest human beings we have ever known. He may not have been the John Wayne of Thunderbird High School, but he certainly was the Mr. Chips. Jack, your work, expertise, compassion, and sense of humor will never be forgotten. Sally's honor.